This Week in Crypto - Bitcoin, Ethereum, Blockchain, and Cryptocurrency News

TokenTax reports cryptocurrency capital gains and income taxes and supports over 30 exchanges. TokenTax provides a global perspective on crypto tax regulations as well as common practices for U.S. taxpayers. Zac McClure, co-founder of TokenTax, will join us to discuss the implications of taxes on cryptocurrency. Subscribe to our newsletter

Quick Take South Korean lawmakers amend the Financial Information Act in alignment with FATF guidelines. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warns BitMex it is not authorized to operate in the U.K.  Lending startup Babel Finance reaches a record of $380 million in outstanding loans. Trident Crypto Fund hack results in data leak of about 266,000 users registered. Square Crypto awards grants to bitcoin developers. Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Quick Take The Supreme Court of India lifts a cryptocurrency ban, enabling crypto firms to access baking services. Decrypt to launch its own token that rewards readers for interacting with brands. ConsenSys and EY launch enterprise-targeted Baseline Protocol. HTC announces the EXODUS 5G Hub blockchain router for running a full bitcoin node. BitGo launches institutional lending services to its custody clients. Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Celer Network is a leading layer-2 scaling platform that enables fast, easy and secure off-chain transactions for not only payment transactions, but also generalized off-chain smart contracts.

SKALE Labs is a blockchain scalability platform that provides high-speed consensus and empowers dApps to run smart contracts. SKALE acts as a middle-ware layer which provides high-speed consensus and empowers dApps to run smart contracts at the rate of millions per second on platforms such as Ethereum, EOS, and other Smart Contract Blockchain platforms.

RADAR is building products for access to financial infrastructure. Its REDSHIFT product bridges payments between the Bitcoin Lightning Network and Ethereum. They've also built ION, which services to educate and onboard users to the Lightning Network. Their latest project, DEPLOY is a node operations platform that helps developers spin up and maintain blockchain infrastructure. RELAY is a peer-to-peer trading platform built on the 0x protocol.

3Box is an open-source data storage solution for web3 that allows end-users to manage their public and private information on the decentralized web. 3Box CEO Michael Sena joins me to discuss blockchain identity, decentralized storage, and enabling applications with zero backends.

Aave is an open-source and non-custodial protocol to earn interest on deposits and borrow assets with a variable or stable interest rate. Aave Founder Stani Kulechov joins us to discuss the Aave lending protocol, risk assessment framework, and flash loans.

Biconomy is a relayer infrastructure network and transaction platform enabling developers to build applications easily and reduce the friction between your applications built on the blockchain and your end-users.

Orchid is building open source tools for custom VPN configurations and privacy services. CEO Steven Waterhouse talks about the vulnerabilities of today’s VPNs, the purpose of OXT, and shares his experience with being SIM swapped.

Kyber Network is an Ethereum-based protocol that allows for the instant exchange and conversion of digital assets and cryptocurrencies with high liquidity. It’s similar to the 0x project but instead performs all its actions on the blockchain. Deniz Omer, Head of Growth at Kyber Network, joins us to discuss decentralized liquidity, challenges of decentralized exchanges and his thoughts on the recent bZx exploit that resulted in a loss of roughly $350k.

James Duncan is the co-founder at Abridged, a toolkit for rapid blockchain application development. Previously, James worked at the Ethereum Foundation, managing a multimillion-dollar grant budget that funded projects like Gitcoin, Uniswap, and DappNode. In this week’s episode, we discuss the history of DAOs, DAO structures, and uses for DAOs in a regulated environment. Show Links Vitalik on “DAC” in 2013 MolochDAO Signal DAO Abridged on Gitcoin Newsletter

Quick Take Amun launched “21Shares Short Bitcoin ETP (SBTC),” enabling traders to short bitcoin. BitMEX announced the launch of an XRP-USD quanto swap. Gemini passed the SOC type 2 security compliance examination conducted by Deloitte. Pornhub adds support for Tether (USDT) via the TRONlink wallet. The World Economic Forum developed a framework for central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Newsletter

Quick Take Bakkt plans to launch a consumer app later this year. Bitcoin cash miners plan to execute a soft fork that would cut block rewards by 12.5 percent. Grayscale has extended financial support for the Ethereum Classic Cooperative. Binance has invested in open-data framework provider Numbers. Square received a U.S. patent for a new network with seamless crypto-to-fiat transactions.  Newsletter

Quick Take Square Crypto launched a Lightning Development Kit (LDK) for integrating Lighting on bitcoin wallets. BTCPay Server released “BTCPay Vault,” a desktop application for integrating hardware wallets. British telecom company Vodafone left the Libra Association to focus on expanding M-Pesa. Silvergate Bank recruits Blockstream executive Benjamin Richman. Huobi launches a brokerage platform for institutional investors. Newsletter

Quick Take: Bitfinex-backed startup RenrenBit yielded $1.4 million in revenue for Q4 2019. South Korean regulators review a taxation plan with a virtual currency tax rate of 20%. Australia-based Raiz Invest was granted approval for a retail bitcoin fund. Mining operator Argo Blockchain grossed revenue of $11 million in 2019 and plans to ramp up production. Open Interest for CME Bitcoin Futures spiked to over $235 million worth of positions. Newsletter

Quick Take: KyberSwap leaves Malta for British Virgin Islands due to the EU's new 5AMLD regulation. Libra forms Technical Steering Committee to oversee development of the project. Grayscale surpasses $1 billion in total investments. Binance is in talks with Z Corporation, a subsidiary of Yahoo Japan, to operate a joint exchange. The SEC has filed a lawsuit against operators of Blockchain Terminal's $30 million ICO. Newsletter

Quick Take Gemini launched Nakamoto Ltd., a captive insurance company with a $200 million insurance policy. Former CFTC Chair Christopher Giancarlo has formed the Digital Dollar Foundation. CSA notice suggests custodial crypto exchanges are subject to Canadian securities laws. Lawmakers propose amendment to IRS tax code that would exempt realized gains under $200. Bithumb seeks to nullify a $70 million tax bill. The court has 90 days to grant or dismiss the motion.   Newsletter

TLDR: EEA launched a TestNet in partnership with Whiteblock, enabling members to develop in a sandbox environment. Kadena fully launched its hybrid blockchain, enabling human-readable smart contracts and interoperability between public and private chains via Pact. Bitwise withdrew its bitcoin ETF application, but plans to refile at a future time. Kraken acquired Australia-based cryptocurrency exchange Bit Trade. Anchorage acquired data analytics firm Merkle Data and announced the launch of its brokerage service Anchorage Trading.

Authereum is a login and wallet solution for dApp developers who want to provide their users with a web2-like user experience while maintaining censorship resistance. Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/HUA7BbvXtlI Show Links Authereum Chris Whinfrey on Twitter The Gas Siphon Attack

IBC is a standard that permits anyone to quickly and securely transfer money across the web. Zaki Manian is the head of research at Tendermint Inc, an implementation of BFT consensus algorithm & PoS cryptoeconomics and a core contributor to the Cosmos Network. Dean Tribble, CEO at Agoric, is working on providing a safer, simpler way to program smart contracts. Support this podcast by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Also follow us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts. Thanks for listening!

Here’s the rundown from This Week in Crypto: More than 80 Japanese banks have expressed interest in joining JP Morgan’s Interbank Information Network (IIN), a platform for exchanging information related to international payments. Nike has been granted a patent for tokenizing shoes as an NFT on Ethereum. Stellar has cancelled its 2 billion XLM airdrop to Keybase users after combating thousands of bots. Enterprise blockchain platform VeChain was hacked of 1.1 billion VET tokens worth an estimated $6.5 million. Lightcurve, an application platform by Lisk, has laid-off 21 of its 53 employees. Support this podcast by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Follow us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts, thanks for listening!

This is your daily roundup for Friday, November 22, 2019. The European Investment Fund invests €100 million in a blockchain fund, Coinbase Custody expands Tezos staking internationally, and China cracks down on crypto related activities in Shenzhen.

This is your daily roundup for Thursday, November 21, 2019. Chainalysis lays off 39 employees, Shanghai police allegedly raid Binance offices, and Silvergate Bank announces plans to launch crypto lending and custody services.

Polymesh migrates from ethereum to Parity’s Substrate, the U.S. Federal Reserve responds to a letter in regards to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), and ShapeShift launches its “FOX” exchange token.

This is your daily roundup for Tuesday, November 19, 2019. The IRS investigates Bitcoin ATMs, Fidelity Digital Asset Services has been granted a trust license, and Grayscale Investments seeks SEC reporting company status.

This is your daily roundup for Monday, November 18, 2019. Visa introduces the LucidiTEE blockchain, the SEC reviews Bitwise bitcoin ETF rejection, and Cashaa plans to offer banking for US crypto firms.

This is your daily roundup for Sunday, November 17, 2019. A Wyoming law exempts New York’s bitlicense requirement, Andrew Yang addresses regulating crypto, and the Federal Reserve releases stablecoin guidelines for issuers.

This is your daily roundup for Saturday, November 16, 2019. Tether denies allegations in its class action lawsuit, China stays firm on its cryptocurrency restrictions, and Alibaba denies any form of partnership with Lolli.

This is your roundup for the week ending November 15, 2019. Bithumb Launches Bithumb Coin (BT), CME Group plans to offer bitcoin options in 2020, and Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) will launch next week.

This is you daily roundup for Friday, November 15, 2019. Compound Finance raises $25 million, BRICS nations explore cryptocurrency for trade, and Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) goes live on Monday.

This is you daily roundup for Thursday, November 14, 2019. The Coinbase debit card supports additional tokens, Ledger Vault secures a $150 million insurance policy, and the Swiss Exchange lists a Tezos exchange traded product (ETP).

This is you daily roundup for Wednesday, November 13, 2019. Bakkt plans to offer cash-settled bitcoin futures, crypto.com announces a new exchange, and Telegram requests its SEC case to be dismissed.

This is you daily roundup for Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Justin Sun admits investment in Poloniex, BitGo is processing 20% bitcoin of transactions, and Binance announces it will use the fiat gateway by Paxos Trust Company.

This is you daily roundup for Monday, November 11, 2019. HTC launches the EXODUS 1 Binance Edition, Abra adds support for 60 new assets, and Polkadot explores Kadena’s Pact smart contract programming language.

This is you daily roundup for Sunday, November 10, 2019. Bithumb launches Bithumb Coin (BT), an EIDOS airdrop clogs the EOS network, and Ant Financial is testing its blockchain network for launch next year.

Vertalo is a platform for issuers and broker-dealers to manage security tokens and cap tables. Vertalo is integrated with custody platforms and KYC/AML providers to make managing a security token investors’ data easy. Support this podcast by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Also follow us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts. Thanks for listening!

Tim Byun is the CEO of OKCoin, one of the oldest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Tim spent the first part of his career at the FDIC and Federal Reserve before getting into crypto. He previously worked compliance at BitPay and AML at Visa. Tim joins us to discuss the regulatory state around cryptocurrency exchanges, updates from OKCoin, and how to further develop adoption. Support this podcast by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Also follow us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts. Thanks for listening!

This is your daily roundup for Wednesday, November 6, 2019. Hong Kong’s SFC releases a position paper on virtual asset exchanges, Cash App restructures its bitcoin fees, and Nervos Network will launch its “Lina” blockchain next week. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota Hong Kong Crypto Exchange Position Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has released a position paper on virtual asset exchanges. The paper outlines custody, KYC, and a new licensing requirement for any virtual asset firm trading at least one security token. Decentralized and non-custodial trading platforms will not be reviewed by the SFC. Under the new licensing conditions, regulated crypto exchanges can only offer products to professional investors. Exchanges must also obtain the SFC’s prior written approval for any plan or proposal to add any product to its trading platform and must provide monthly reports to the SFC. Only 2% of assets can be stored on hot wallets. Per the license requirement, exchanges must use a Hong Kong incorporated custodian that is a wholly owned subsidiary of the exchange. An insurance policy must also cover the risks of assets held in both hot storage (full coverage) and cold storage (a substantial coverage) at all times. Lastly, the report says exchanges should take all reasonable steps to establish the true and full identity of each of its clients, and of each client’s financial situation, investment experience, and investment objectives. The regulator also issued a warning Wednesday to providers of cryptocurrency-based futures products targeting Hong Kong citizens without the proper paperwork. The SFC said it has not licensed or authorised any person in Hong Kong to offer or trade virtual asset futures contracts to date and remains unlikely to grant a license. Cash App Bitcoin Fees Square’s Cash App has started charging standalone fees for bitcoin purchases as high as 1.76 percent. The Cash App website now states “Cash App may charge a fee when you buy or sell bitcoin. If so, the fee will be listed on the trade confirmation before you complete a transaction.” A Square spokesperson confirmed that Cash App is rolling out a new fee structure for bitcoin trades. Previously, fees were included in the spread. Now Square says it has broken fees out of the spread for user transparency. The 1.76 percent fee is still favorably for smaller bitcoin transactions when compared to Coinbase. Square reported bitcoin sales of $148 million for its Q3 2019. Security Token Research Consortium Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group – Japan’s largest financial group and the fifth largest bank in the world by assets – is leading a 22-member Security Token Research Consortium to develop standards around security token management. Securitize is the only issuance platform provider that has joined the consortium.  The group is pursuing ways to develop, offer and onboard financial transactions services using blockchain, with a focus on automatic settlement for securities and funds. It plans to develop a dedicated security token blockchain called “Progmat” to provide a platform for managing securitized assets, including trust functions to minimize counterparty risk. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is also developing a blockchain payments network with fintech company Alkami Technologies to be launched in the first half of 2020. The company is also participating in a blockchain proof-of-concept to streamline KYC processes with HSBC Singapore, OCBC Bank and the Info-communications Media Development Authority. Nervos Network Launch Nervos Network plans to launch its “Lina” blockchain next week on Nov. 16. It’s estimated that the startup raised $72 million in its three-week token sale. Investors included China Merchants Bank International (CMBI), Polychain Capital, Blockchain Capital, Hashkey, MultiCoin and Distributed Global. According to co-founder Kevin Wang, the mainnet will enable users to build applications on their blockchain without facing the tradeoff between scalability and security. The company’s new CKByte token entitles holders to storage space on the blockchain, acting as an incentive mechanism for miners and acting as a resource management tool. The company has established its significant presence in the Chinese developers’ community as some of the core team members are among the earliest ethereum developers in China. EU Stablecoin Regulation According to Reuters, a group within the EU presidency is working on a draft political declaration that will say the EU should regulate stablecoins in particular. The declaration is being developed in response to Libra, with a focus on how stablecoins should be regulated. A source told CoinDesk “The statement is to highlight the need for a proper regulatory framework for those stablecoins and as a consequence, different ideas should be explored. One of them is the possibility of having something that is managed by the ECB [European Central Bank] and other central banks.” The declaration is expected to be adopted by the EU on Dec. 5, at the finance ministers’ next meeting

This is your daily roundup for Tuesday, November 5, 2019. CipherTrace adds support for Binance Chain, the Stellar Foundation burns 55 billion XLM, and Huobi Global bans U.S. customers from its exchange. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota Coke Bottlers Turn To Blockchain Coke One North America, the technology firm that manages the IT operations for Coca Cola bottlers, is using a blockchain solution from German software firm SAP to improve its supply chain process. Andrei Semenov, senior manager at Coke One North America, told Business Insider "There are a number of transactions that are cross-companies and multiparty that are inefficient. They go through intermediaries; they are very slow. And we felt that we could improve this and save some money," The blockchain-based solution will allow bottlers to see real-time inventory of other franchises and will have the ability to purchase bottles from other franchises to fulfill an order in the event of a shortage. CONA says that franchisers will be paid much faster.  CONA is able to view all transactions on the online ledger, including what franchise orders and specific shipments. Using the technology, CONA is hoping to reduce the order-reconciliation process from 50 days down to just a few days, leading to cost savings and faster cash flow between the franchises. The pilot program initially started with just two bottlers — Coca-Cola United and C.C. Clark — and is now being scaled across 70 franchises.  Binance Expands CipherTrace Partnership CipherTrace, a leading provider of cryptocurrency intelligence and blockchain security, announced support for Binance Chain and its community that facilitates the transfer and trading of blockchain assets and BNB. Binance Chain primarily functions as the foundation layer of Binance’s new decentralized exchange. CipherTrace support for BNB and the larger Binance Chain ecosystem follows on the heels of a recent expansion of CipherTrace services where the company added 700 crypto assets, including Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH) and tether (USDT) to its traceable list.  CipherTrace technology will track on-chain funds and problematic user wallet addresses. The integration comes in response to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations for having exchanges implement the travel rule. Binance chief compliance officer Samuel Lim stated “Our users can soon expect more digital token/asset support across our fast-growing ecosystem and lines of businesses. While we constantly strengthen our compliance and security controls to align with global regulatory standards, we stay true to our roots of being user-centric. This partnership with CipherTrace would ultimately encourage greater community involvement, developer participation and public interest in Binance Chain and pave the way for larger mainstream adoption.” Binance also announced that its implementation of the Threshold Signature Scheme Library, a technology aimed to allow crypto startups to more securely manage private keys is now open source. The Threshold Signature Scheme Library will enable wallet providers and custodians to avoid single points of failure in private keys with distributed key management. Stellar Foundation Burns 55 Billion XLM The Stellar Development Foundation has burned 55 billion of its XLM tokens, more than half the cryptocurrency’s supply. CEO Denelle Dixon made the announcement from the stage of the Stellar conference this Monday. Previously, there were 105 billion XLM in existence, with 20 billion in circulation. The supply is now 50 billion lumens, with 30 billion XLM in the hands of the foundation. Dixon said, as much as they wanted to use the lumens that they held, it was very hard to get them into the market. Instead of selling the lumens, the organization decided it was better to project how much it could actually use over a 10-year period and calibrate. In the hour following the announcement, XLM’s price jumped about 14 percent, to $0.08, according to data provider Nomics. Huobi Kicks Off U.S. Customers Huobi Global will kick all of its U.S. customers off its platform later this month. The exchange announced it would freeze all U.S. accounts on starting Nov. 13, saying the move is in response to compliance towards U.S. laws and regulations. Huobi is recommending that customers transfer their assets to it’s U.S. partner HBUS, based in San Francisco. Huobi said all outstanding balances must be withdrawn by Nov. 13, and offered to assist users holding amounts below the withdrawal minimum via customer support. Customers can receive their funds in bitcoin or USDT. Huobi’s move follows that of Binance which in June, cracked on U.S. customers, pushing them to FinCEN-registered exchange Binance US. DX.Exchange Halts Operations DX.Exchange is pausing operations as it pursues a merger or sale of the company. The move was voted on by its board this Monday. The firm stated “The costs of providing the required level of security, support and technology is not economically feasible on our own.” Customers have until Nov. 15 to withdraw funds. DX.Exchange offered tokenized shares in companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

This is your daily roundup for Monday, November 4, 2019. FATF releases guidance on global digital IDs, Microsoft launches Azure Blockchain Tokens, and thousands of BitMEX users fall victim to an email privacy breach. ☕ Buy me a coffee: https://glow.fm/mota FATF Releases Guidance on Global Digital IDs The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has published its draft guide on digital identity, for governments, regulated entities and other stakeholders to enforce AML and CFT regulations. FATF listed a number of questions acting as “areas of focus,” requesting private stakeholders to provide feedback via email by Nov. 29, 2019. The guidance specifically lists distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a tool that can aid in the growth of digital ID networks. Due to the rise of stablecoins across international financial systems, the organization also stressed the importance of digital identity in payment systems, which could be used to identify stakeholders in stablecoin-related transactions. The 77-page draft guidance further details many issues related to digital ID systems, including their reliability and independence, and how they might be used in performing customer due diligence. BitMEX Email Privacy Breach BitMEX says its email privacy breach last week was due to failed internal processes, exposing thousands of emails from users on the exchange on Nov. 1. In order to overcome email server restrictions on bulk emailing, BitMEX built an in-house system to handle the rendering and sending of emails. To expedite the process, the exchange’s email systems API was changed at the last minute, but did not undergo the typical checking process. As a result, user emails were exposed via carbon copy (CC). The exchange says it stopped further batches of emails being sent out upon recognition of the issue. In response to the leak, BitMEX says they employed password resets and human review on endangered accounts. BitMEX deputy chief operating officer Vivien Khoo says no personal data or account information beyond email addresses was exposed. China Bitcoin Mining Update The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), a top-level economic planning agency under China’s State Council, published a new finalized catalog for guiding industry restructuring that will take effect starting Jan 1, 2020. In the final version, the agency removed bitcoin mining or other virtual currency mining activities from the initially proposed category of industries that should be eliminated from China. The initial draft released in April classified “virtual currency mining, such as the production process of bitcoin” under the category to be eliminated, recommending local governments to phase out bitcoin mining.  The removal from the catalog is positive news for bitcoin as it’s estimated that China’s miners account for half of bitcoin’s global hashing power. BCSC Seizes Einstein Exchange The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) announced today that it had filed to take control of Einstein Exchange after the platform said on Oct. 31 that it planned to shut down its operations within the next 60 to 90 days. According to a court filing, Einstein owes its customers $12.4 million USD. The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted the BCSC’s order and appointed accounting firm Grant Thornton as interim receiver to take control of the exchange’s assets. Grant Thornton was also authorized to take possession over any of Einstein’s properties and assets and could use forced entry if necessary. The accounting firm entered and secured the premises of Einstein Exchange on Nov. 1. According to the BCSC, the commission received a number of complaints from customers who were unable to access their assets on Einstein Exchange.  Microsoft Launches Azure Blockchain Tokens Microsoft has announced it’s new Azure Blockchain Tokens platform at the Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida. The platform allows businesses to choose from a growing set of token-building templates that conform to the Token Taxonomy Initiative (TTI) – a standards push and enterprise consortium spearheaded by Microsoft principal architect Marley‌ Gray.  Gray stated “We are creating a platform in the cloud where any token within the TTI framework can snap into place. So you can build applications where you want to use tokens with, for example, Dynamics, SAP, applications in the Office suite or some other business automation process.” Azure Blockchain Tokens are interoperable with IBM, R3, and ethereum variants. The platform is being released alongside a host of example tokens including a Hyperledger Fabric FabToken built by IBM, a Santander BOND token, and a REWARD token from Intel and ConsenSys.

This is your daily roundup for Friday, October 4, 2019. PayPal withdraws from the Libra Association, Coinbase Pro increases trading fees, and Apple CEO Tim Cook argues issuing money is for governments and not for private firms. ☕Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota PayPal Withdraws From Libra Association PayPal has announced its withdraw from the Libra Association. The Financial Times initially reported that PayPal is considering leaving the project due in part to the regulatory backlash Libra has received in recent months. A PayPal spokesperson told CoinDesk that they made the decision to forgo further participation in the Libra project, to instead continue to focus on advancing their existing mission and business priorities. A Libra Association spokesperson has confirmed the withdrawal.  Calibra CEO David Marcus address a Wall Street Journal report in regards to Visa and Mastercard considering to leave the association. Marcus tweeted “change of this magnitude is hard and requires courage + it will be a long journey. For Libra to succeed it needs committed members, and while I have no knowledge of specific organizations plans to not step up, commitment to the mission is more important than anything else. Tim Cook "No" On Issuing Money In an interview with Les Echos, Apple CEO Tim Cook argued that issuing money is for governments and not for private firms. Cook stated “I deeply believe that money must remain in the hands of states. I am not comfortable with the idea that a private group creates a competing currency. A private company does not have to seek to gain power in this way. Cook's comment may be a criticism at Facebook's Libra project. On the other hand, Apple Pay vice president Jennifer Bailey, said last month that the firm is watching cryptocurrency and thinks it has interesting long-term potential. Apple has developed its traditional fiat-currency payments initiatives via Apple Pay and the Apple Card released this year. Coinbase Pro Increases Fees Coinbase Pro is increasing fees for traders early next week. Starting October 7th at 22:00 UTC, Coinbase Pro will have higher fees for new tiers of accounts transacting under $10,000, and between $10,000 and $50,000. Currently, all accounts trading under $100,000 are charged 0.25 percent (takers) and 0.15 percent (makers). Accounts with trading under $10,000 will see fee increases of 150%. The changes, however, will favor high-volume customers, with accounts transacting over $50,000 or more either seeing a small reduction in fees or no change at all. Coinbase UK Reinstates Deposits Coinbase UK has reinstated British pound deposits and withdrawals for domestic users. Deposits have been paused for a month due to the ended partnership with Barclays. The exchange has formed a new partnership with ClearBank. The bank is a member of the UK's Faster Payment Scheme settlement network, which Coinbase required for pound-denominated transactions. Coinbase UK has also listed, XRP, basic attention token (BAT), stellar lumens (XLM), 0x (ZRX) and augur (REP). This has been your daily roundup from This Week in Crypto for Friday, October 4, 2019. Be sure to support the podcast by subscribing on your favorite podcast app including Google Home and Alexa devices. Also join us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts at twitter.com/weekincrypto. Thanks for listening, we'll see you next time.

This is your daily roundup for Thursday, October 3, 2019. U.S. lawmakers ask the Federal Reserve to consider creating a digital dollar, IKEA settles an invoice on Ethereum, and MakerDAO patches a critical bug. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota U.S. Lawmakers Consider A Digital Dollar U.S. Representatives French Hill and Bill Foster sent a September 30th letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, outline concerns they have about risks to the U.S. dollar if another country or private company creates a widely used cryptocurrency, and asked whether the central bank is looking into creating its own version. The letter stated “We are concerned that the primacy of the U.S. Dollar could be in long-term jeopardy from wide adoption of digital fiat currencies. Internationally, the Bank for International Settlements conducted a study that found that over 40 countries around the world have currently developed or are looking into developing a digital currency.” The congressmen also addressed Facebook’s Libra, saying that it could remove important aspects of financial governance outside of U.S. jurisdiction. The letter also mentions J.P. Morgan’s and Wells Fargo’s fiat backed coins. IKEA Settles Invoice On Ethereum IKEA Iceland has used the Ethereum blockchain to settle an invoice with a local retailer, accepting payment in digital cash. The transaction was carried out on a platform provided by supply chain management firm Tradeshift and used programmable digital cash from Monerium’s tokenized krona. Monerium and Tradeshift claim it’s the world’s first transaction showing that government-regulated, programmable e-money is ready for mainstream markets. Gert Sylvest, co-founder of Tradeshift stated “With a ‘smart invoice’ we can issue tokens that represent the future cash flow down to each dollar on the invoice. Whoever holds tokens will get paid upon due date, which makes smart invoices ideal to use for financial-services apps” Tradeshift was notably backed by Goldman Sachs in a $250 million Series E funding round last May. Chainalysis Adds 10 ERC-20 Tokens Chainalysis has added an additional 10 ERC-20 tokens to it’s crypto tracking software. New tokens include Basic Attention Token (BAT), OmiseGO (OMG), Dai (DAI), Maker (MKR) and 0x (ZRX). Chainalysis’ compliance, regulatory and tracking software is a favorite among federal investigators and crypto exchanges. The software tracks and flags tokens with an illicit history, including recent exchange hacks. BitGo Adds Staking Support Custodian platform BitGo has added staking to its services, starting with dash and algorand. Through BitGo Staking, coin holders can earn between 7 and 13 percent annual returns. BitGo said dash and algorand will earn staking rewards while remaining in cold storage. CTO Ben Chan stated “In order to be a great custodian, we need to provide our clients with the ability to use their assets in custody. Staking provides our clients with returns on their investments without ever moving their assets out of custody.” As part of the announcement, BitGo acquired staking infrastructure company Hedge and plans to use its hardware security modules (HSMs) for part of it’s wallet solutions. MakerDAO Patches Critical MCD Bug MakerDAO has patched a critical bug in its Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) upgrade. HackerOne user lucash-dev revealed the bug via the HackerOne forum and received a $50,000 bounty for uncovering the flaw. Chris Smith, a senior software engineer for MakerDAO, stated “Our auction system allowed the potential attacker to create a fake auction, basically offering very little collateral for a large amount of DAI. The system would trust that number and use it as credit against collateral, allowing the hacker to basically take that other collateral out of the system.” The system could have put more than 10% of the Maker’s total collateral at risk. Luckily, the bug was caught during the testnet, before any users had access to the system. Multi-Collateral Dai (MCD) enables users to stake cryptocurrencies other than ETH as collateral to issue new Dai.

This is your daily roundup for Wednesday, October 2, 2019.  Coinbase will start paying users 1.25% on USDC holdings, six Japan brokerages formed an STO association, and Parity Technologies released Parity Signer v3.0. ☕Buy me a coffee: https://glow.fm/mota Zuckerberg Addresses Libra KYC Concerns According to leaked comments from an internal Facebook meeting in July, CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed Libra KYC concerns voiced by employees. From a transcript posted by the Verge, Zuckerberg stated “The public things, I think, tend to be a little more dramatic, but a bigger part of it is private engagement with regulators around the world, and those, I think, often are more substantive and less dramatic.” Zuckerberg admitted that the company has more work to do in dealing with money laundering and anti-terrorist financing. Japan Brokerages Form STO Association Six major Japanese brokerages, including Nomura Securities and Daiwa Securities have formed the Japan STO Association, a self-regulatory organization (SRO) for STOs. The association will devise rules and guidelines for issuance and will take on lobbying duties to develop security tokens as a product in the country. Earlier this year, Japan’s Act on Settlement of Funds and the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act were amended to regulate the sale of tokens. Under the new legislation, security tokens will be considered interests in a collective investment scheme, and buyers will have the right to receive distributions from the business of the issuer. The new regulations will be enforced once implementing orders and ordinances are issued by Japan’s Financial Services Agency. Coinbase USDC Holdings Pays 1.25% Coinbase has announced that it will pay an annual percentage yield (APY) of 1.25 percent on holdings of it’s USDC stablecoin. Coinbase users with at least one USDC in their account will automatically begin to accrue rewards on their holdings, paid monthly. Coinbase director of product Max Branzburg said the initiative will be financed from different pre-existing Coinbase revenue streams. He stated “We can pull from the profits we generate as a business to reward our customers for storing their assets on the platform. We’re fortunate to be able to do that as a profitable business.” Branzburg mentioned the possibility of a future program for other cryptocurrencies on the exchange. Parity Signer v3.0 Parity Technologies has released a new version of Parity Signer, a mobile application that turns old smartphones into hardware wallets. This app is meant to be used on a dedicated smartphone that is to be kept offline at all times. Parity Signer lets users generate or restore Kusama and Ethereum accounts and safely sign transactions without ever being connected to the internet. Offline, or “air-gapped,” wallets provide a simple form of protection from hackers and malware attacks. Parity suggests that smartphones running the app be kept on airplane mode at all times. For all accounts, users will receive a recovery phrase and choose a “pin” to sign transactions. Although the app’s code was part of Parity’s Trail of Bits audit, the company strongly suggests to use the app with caution and only store small amounts. Xpring Releases SDK Ripple’s Xpring is releasing an SDK for developers to integrate XRP apps and Ripple’s Interledger Protocol (ILP) in multiple programming languages. BitPay, mobile wallet BRD and digital custody provider Anchorage are all adding XRP support. Xpring, is the investment arm of Ripple, building a network of companies and use-cases around XRP.

Hello everyone and welcome to This Week in Crypto. This is your daily roundup for Tuesday, October 1, 2019. A vulnerability has been found in the ENS short-name auction, Binance and Polychain invest In Founders Bank, and Nebulous reaches a $225K SEC settlement. ☕Buy me a coffee: https://glow.fm/mota ENS Short-Name Auction Vulnerability A vulnerability in the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) short-domain auction has allowed a hacker to obtain 16 notable domain names including apple.eth, defi.eth, wallet.eth, and pay.eth. Auction operator OpenSea has taken full responsibility for the bug. According to the disclosure, the bug distributed ENS domains to participants who did not hold the highest bid. OpenSea stated “One user discovered an input validation vulnerability that allowed them to place bids on a name that actually issued a different name.” Given that the domains are distributed on the Ethereum blockchain, it is impossible for ENS to revoke the names. OpenSea has asked for the domain names to be returned for re-auction and said it will reward 25 percent of the final auction price plus the original bid the hacker. OpenSea also paused ENS auctions and disabled bidding until they feel confident that the bugs are fully resolved. OpenSea has since announced that the stolen ENS names were all returned successfully and bidding will be extended.  SKALE Network Raises $17m Ethereum scaling platform SKALE Network has raised $17.1 million to launch on mainnet. The funding will be used to seed and stabilize SKALE’s proof-of-stake network and increase its security. SKALE claims it will enable dapps to conduct millions of transactions per second at a fraction of the cost of what’s possible today, via their layer-2 scaling solution. Nebulous Reaches $225K SEC Settlement Nebulous, the company behind the Sia network, has reached a $225K settlement with the SEC) over an unregistered securities offering and conversion. Nebulous only raised approximately $120,000 during its 2014 token sale. As part of the Nebulous settlement, the company will not be required to register the Siacoin utility token as a security. Siacoins are used in the Sia ecosystem to buy and sell cloud storage space and pay revenues to Siafund investors. Nebulous COO Zach Herbert stated “Though the penalty for our unregistered 2014 Siafunds offering is steep, we are excited that the SEC chose to take no action against Siacoins, and we believe this settlement validates our two-token model.” The Sia settlement comes just a day after the announcement of Block.One’s $24 million settlement with the SEC for the $4.1 billion EOS securities sale. Binance & Polychain Invest In Founders Bank Malta-based Founders Bank has raised $10 million to launch crypto-friendly financial services. Among the investors are Binance and Polychain. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that Binance will be one of the Founders Bank’s first clients. Polychain president Joe Eagan said the investment was inspired by personal experience since his fund struggled to find banking partners in 2016. He stated “Many of our portfolio projects, we’ve seen, still have difficulty accessing banking partners.” Currently, Silvergate Bank in California, Metropolitan Bank in New York, and WEG Bank in Germany offer services for crypto startups. Founders Bank is scheduled to open next in 2020. FINMA “Open Minded” About Libra According to Reuters, Mark Branson, CEO of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), showed openness towards the libra project stating “We are not here to make such projects impossible. We will respond to them with an open mind, with an attitude that same risks require same rules” This comes contrary to concerns from EU finance leaders including Bruno Le Maire’s concern over the potential threat that Libra poses towards national currencies. 

This is your daily roundup for Monday, September 30, 2019. Block.One is due to pay $24 million in an SEC settlement, over $3 million worth of FSN tokens have been hacked, and Ethereum’s istanbul upgrade arrived early. ☕ Buy me a coffee: https://glow.fm/mota $3.75 Million FSN Tokens Hacked The Fusion Foundation has reported that one of its wallets, containing 10 million of the Fusion Network’s native FSN tokens and 3.5 million ERC-20 FSN tokens was drained on Saturday. The total theft is estimated at $3.75 million. The Fusion Foundation suggested that the hack may have been an inside job. Fusion Chief Product Officer John Liu said the foundation has a good understanding who the hacker was and that the criminal was well prepared. Liu added on to say the Foundation has been tracking the whereabouts of the coins and is working to isolate them. To date, most of the stolen funds have gone through exchanges Bitmax and Hotbit. Crypto exchanges OKEX, Huobi, Bitmax, Citex and Hotbit have stopped accepting deposits and transfers of FSN. The Fusion Foundation launched its mainnet last summer and has been migrating FSN tokens away from the ERC-20 standard. The interoperability platform aims to bring legacy financial institutions to the blockchain, by facilitating the transfer of stablecoins and other digital assets. Ethereum’s Istanbul Upgrade Arrives Early Ethereum’s Istanbul upgrade has arrived early, causing a split on the Ropsten testnet. Originally expected to activate on Oct. 2, Istanbul was released two days earlier than planned – on Sept. 30 at roughly 3:40 a.m. UTC. There are currently two different chains mining the Ropsten test network. There are miners mining on the old Ropsten chain and miners mining the new one. According to Ethereum Foundation community manager Hudson Jameson, the early release was due to unusually fast block confirmation times. Miners on the network are required to manually upgrade their software in order to ensure the smooth continuation of a single chain. Unfortunately, the unexpected time of the upgrade caught many developers off guard, causing only some developers to upgrade and therefore splitting the chain. Jameson says developers are trying to run some miners to get Ropsten on the correct Istanbul chain. Ethereum core developers will have a call on Friday, Oct. 4 to discuss Istanbul’s testnet activation. Block.One Pays $24m In SEC Settlement The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that Block.One, the company behind EOS, must pay $24 million in penalties for conducting an unregistered securities sale. The SEC’s fine amounts to less than 1 percent of the $4 billion EOS ICO. Block.One said the settlement only applies to the sale of the original ERC-20 token it sold. EOS holders swapped their ethereum-based tokens with EOS tokens when the network first went live. Block.One stated that its ERC-20 token is no longer in circulation and therefore will not require the token to be registered as a security with the SEC.  The SEC granted Block.one with a waiver, freeing the company of ongoing restrictions that usually apply with this type of settlement. UK Police Auction Confiscated Crypto UK police have auctioned off more than $250,000 worth of cryptocurrencies confiscated from the 2017 EtherDelta hack. Police seized the funds from 19-year-old Elliott Gunton in 2018. Gunton held stores of stolen personal information from EtherDelta customers, which he advertised for sale online for $3,000, paid in crypto. At the time, Gunton’s illicit holdings were valued at $337,000.

This is your daily roundup for Sunday, September 29, 2019. Ethereum’s Istanbul upgrade breaks smart contracts on Aragon, Ripple acquires Algrim, and BK Global falls short of paying up for it’s $333 million acquisition of Bithumb. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota EnHelix Launched On Hyperledger Fabric EnHelix has launched on the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain for commodities trading in the gas industry. Enhelix’s blockchain solutions for the oil and gas sector comprise three major systems including Marketplace, Logistics and Settlement. The software streamlines commodities trading with applications supporting every step of the process, including pre-trade KYC, trade execution and post-trade risk management. Automated systems and smart contracts make the energy trades faster and more organized for users. Ripple Acquires Algrim Ripple has acquired Iceland-based crypto trading firm Algrim. Algrim had been developing a crypto trading platform that integrated with more than 30 markets. Six Algrim engineers will join Ripple in expanding cross-border payment corridors and contribute to the ongoing development of the company’s on-demand liquidity product, focusing on integrations with partner crypto exchanges.  On-demand liquidity through Ripple’s xRapid cross-border payment service allows companies to transfer funds from one currency to XRP and from XRP to another currency. Ripple says it has more than a dozen customers using XRP for cross-border transactions. BK Global Falling Short Of Bithumb Acquisition BK Global is falling short on its acquisition of Bithumb. In October 2018, BK Global had agreed to buy a 51 percent stake in Bithumb from BTC Korean Holdings for $333 million. Since the deal was brokered, BK Global reportedly made a down payment of $100 million. According to sources from The Korea Herald, BK Global pushed back it’s April deadline for completing the purchase, and once again missed a Sept. 30 deadline for the final payment. BK Global was allegedly seeking various partnerships or buyouts to secure the remaining capital for the acquisition, and increased its share to 70%. Bithumb has since stated that the exchange has stable management, so there won’t be any impact should the deal collapse. Crypto Rating Council Coinbase has announced the launch of its Crypto Rating Council, a member-operated organization formed to assist digital asset firms to comply with U.S. securities laws. Anchorage, Bittrex, Circle, DRW Cumberland, Genesis, Grayscale Investments and Kraken have joined the initiative. The council rates tokens between one and five. A score of one means a token has few similarities to a security and a score of five means a token resonates strongly with being a security. The council has rated 20 crypto assets, rating XRP, maker (MKR) and polymath (POLY) as likely to be securities. Bitcoin was rated as likely to not be a security due to the absence of a marketed token sale and anonymity of the project team. There has been much controversy over the rating system though, Binance CEO CZ tweeted “The guys who score above 2 should form their own counsel and re-rate everything again.” Ethereum Istanbul Upgrade Ethereum’s Ropsten test network is undergoing a hard fork upgrade known as Istanbul. A new EIP will be implemented to address increasing computational cost.  EIP 1884 will increase the gas prices of three resource-intensive operations. The SLOAD operation will increase gas cost by 4 times from 200 gas per operation to 800 gas per operation. This increase in gas will break 680 smart contracts on Aragon and will increase prices for end-users on the Kyber Network. The smart contracts on Aragon typically manage the governance of DApps running on ethereum. Aragon One CTO Jorge Izquierdo told CoinDesk that forced upgrades are required for the affected smart contracts in order to ensure DAOs built on Aragon continue to function smoothly. Before the fork is implemented, DAOs could receive ETH from one another, but after the fork DAOs on Aragon would essentially run out of gas. Istanbul is expected to introduce a more efficient network. Blockchain researcher Mihailo Bjelic said Monday that bad developer practices are likely the cause of such hiccups, rather than the nature of the upgrade itself, stating “Developers should definitely not be hard-coding assumptions about gas cost into their applications because these numbers can change at any point.”

This is your daily roundup for Saturday, September 28, 2019.  The NBA disallows tokenization of contracts, Harbor receives a broker-dealer license, and LedgerX claims unfair treatment by ex-CFTC Chair Giancarlo. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota NBA Disallows Tokenization Of Contracts The NBA says Nets basketball player Spencer Dinwiddie can’t sell shares in his contract for a security token offering as it violates the league’s collective bargaining agreement. The league said the arrangement is prohibited by the C.B.A., which rules that ‘no player shall assign or otherwise transfer to any third party his right to receive compensation from the team under his uniform player contract. Dinwiddie planned to tokenize part of his contract on the ethereum blockchain, in order to raise $13.5 million from his three-year, $35 million contract. The token would allow Dinwiddie to raise part of his salary up front and token holders would receive his regular salary payments, recouping their investments and earning interest. Paxos Trust Company was set to provide custody and escrow services for the project, paying investors out in the Paxos Standard stablecoin. Dinwiddie also revealed that he had partnered with Tron Foundation’s Justin Sun to donate 8.2 bitcoin to charity by selling his game-worn shoes for the 2019/2020 season. Harbor Receives Broker-Dealer License Harbor Square Investments, a subsidiary of tokenized securities platform Harbor, has received a broker-dealer license from FINRA. Broker-dealers can buy and sell securities on their own and on their clients’ behalves. In crypto, a broker-dealer who treats digital assets as securities could market them to institutional investors, but face strict requirements from the SEC and FINRA. Harbor adopted a conservative mindset more closely associated with Wall Street banks to overcome regulators’ concerns. Harbor’s compliance officers prepared a 500-page Written Supervisory Procedure document for the SEC, outlining countless processes, from on-boarding new hires to documenting instant messages. Harbor plans to become a “one-stop shop” for digital asset issuers, including managing fundraising, managing investors, tokenizing, and enabling liquidity. LedgerX Claims Unfair Treatment By Ex-CFTC Chair  LedgerX believes former CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo was personally biased against the company, and improperly used his position to delay the approval of an amended Derivatives Clearing Organization registration. LedgerX claims that the ex-chair was animus towards a blog post written by LedgerX CEO Paul Chou. The blog post, written in 2018, implied that preferential treatment was being given to larger companies so former chair Giancarlo could cement his legacy. The blog referred to the approval of Bakkt, which was running into issues at the time. According to documents obtained by CoinDesk, former Chair Giancarlo threatened the company by calling a LedgerX board member and telling him that he was going to make sure the Derivatives Clearing Organization (DCO) registration order would be revoked. According to the allegation, a CFTC staffer tried to tamper with a LedgerX’s audit. LedgerX CEO Paul Chou  stated “We had conversations with division level heads that discussed how much of a mess this was and that one of them told me that he felt like ‘a guard in a concentration camp, just following orders from the top.’ These orders were completely divorced from the regulatory framework designed to impartially judge an application’s merit and good standing, and in our view, was based entirely on a personal animus between [Giancarlo] and me because of my blog post.” Under federal law, the CFTC has 180 days to approve or deny an application, but LedgerX has noted that its DCO amendment application has been outstanding for more than 250 days. LedgerX CEO Paul Chou was let go from the CFTC’s Technology Advisory Committee this Friday. CFTC spokesperson Michael Short stated “Paul’s erratic and unprofessional behavior had the potential to distract from the important issues under consideration by the committee”

This is your daily roundup for Friday, September 27, 2019. The Iranean government is cracking down on mining operations, Core Scientific acquired Honeyminer, and a lighting network vulnerability that allowed attackers to drain users’ funds has been patched. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota Core Scientific Acquired Honeyminer Core Scientific has acquired Honeyminer, the leading software for GPU cryptocurrency mining on personal computers. Core Scientific plans to use Honeyminer’s IP and blockchain expertise for its management and monitoring solutions Minder and operating system, MinderOS. The firm will embed mining solutions natively on the MinderOS browser. Honeyminer has been developing numerous projects that will be announced in the coming weeks through Core Scientific. Honeminer is available on Windows and MacOS. Lightning Network Bug Fix A lighting network vulnerability that allowed attackers to drain users’ funds has been patched. Bitcoin developer Rusty Russell of Blockstream initially discovered the vulnerability in late August, but the full disclosure was just announced this week. An attacker could pretend to open a new payments channel and send fake transactions. An honest user could then send back real money to the attacker not knowing the previous transactions had been completely artificial. It’s unclear how many users fell victim to this attack. When asked about the amount of time it took to publicly disclose the bug, Pierre-Marie Padiou, CEO of Acinq, said users have to be given time to update their clients, which a lot of users don’t. The eclair, c-lightning, and lightning labs clients have been updated. Ripple Explores DeFi Ripple has made its first move towards building DeFi products based on XRP. Nine engineers from Logos Network, a decentralized payments platform acquired by Ripple, will be joining Ripple’s investment arm, Xpring, to help Ripple build XRP derivatives, loans, futures and forwards. Before the acquisition, Logos was working to build a payments network inspired by the bitcoin blockchain, with a focus on a scalable, rapid network that still maintains high levels of security. Ethan Beard, senior vice president of Xpring, stated “We’ve made investments in DeFi companies in the past. We invested in Securitize and Dharma, but it’s now an area where we’re building.” Part of Xpring’s focus is to identify use-cases outside of the company’s payments network, RippleNet, to build a network of companies around XRP. Ripple has already invested $500 million into 20 companies. Iran Passes Mining Legislation The Iranian government is cracking down on cryptocurrency mining operations. Miners face fines of $2,000-3,000 per machine and confiscation of their equipment. In rare cases, miners can be jailed for continuing to operate. A professional bitcoin miner estimates that the government has confiscated 80,000 mining devices over the past four months. The Iranean government is pending new legislation for formal mining licenses. According to a draft proposal, miners will be required to submit information such as their list of business activities, the predicted value of their investments, current employment status, rental agreements, the value of their mining equipment and the duration of the mining project. The license will need to be renewed every year. The proposal was approved Iran’s Minister of Industry, and the licenses would only apply to miners with equipment that requires 30 kilowatts. Part of the uptick in the Iranian mining industry is due to state-subsidized electricity. 

This is your daily roundup for Thursday, September 26, 2019.  Bittrex adopts chainalysis tracking software, a new malware is stealing browser data, and Binance helps UK police find a cybercriminal involved in phishing attacks. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota Bittrex Adopts Chainalysis Tracking Software Bittrex is adopting real-time monitoring software from Chainalysis to detect suspicious activity across bitcoin, ether, litecoin, dai, gemini, and more. The Know Your Transaction (KYT) software by Chainalysis flags criminal transactions by using its database of suspicious addresses. This comes as governments and regulators around the world are increasing their oversight of crypto exchanges at the request of the Financial Action Task Force. Jonathan Levin, Chainalysis’ chief security officer, said KYT automates much of Bittrex’s review process. The software flags criminal activity, but a Bittrex-employed compliance analyst still needs to determine if the threat is valid and then file a suspicious activity report with regulators. Zuckerberg Hesitates For Libra 2020 Launch Mark Zuckerberg has said that Facebook is now taking a more cautious approach when bringing forward the Libra project and avoided committing to a launch date, contrary to the Libra Association managing director’s commitment earlier this month. When asked about the expected date of the stablecoin’s launch, Zuckerberg stated “Obviously we want to move forward at some point soon and not have this take many years to roll out, but right now I’m really focused on making sure that we do this well.” Zuckerberg claims that the association is allowing a period for consultation and working through the issues. Binance Helps UK Police Find Phishing Criminal Binance has helped the UK Police investigate a cyber criminal who sold phishing tools that resulted in the theft of millions of pounds. Binace chief compliance officer Samuel Li said that around half a million people were targeted, a majority by email, with the criminals raking in over £41 million. The phishing scripts allowed criminals to obtain personal details from more than 53 clone websites of legitimate U.K. companies. Potential victims would then be targeted with phishing emails or have their details sold on the dark web.  The criminal was identified as a 37 year old Bulgarian man, and now faces 9 years in prison. “Masad Stealer” Malware Is Stealing Browser Data According to cybersecurity firm Juniper Networks, a new bit of malware called Masad Stealer can inject malicious code into your browser and replace wallet addresses, access credit card browser data, browser passwords, and more. The program dumps this information to the malware controller’s Telegram account, ensuring relative security for the data it steals. It also clips and changes cryptocurrency addresses automatically and uses special search functions to pinpoint the addresses on your clipboard. Bad actors achieve end user downloads by advertising in forums, on third party download sites or on file sharing sites. Juniper says the malware costs $40 on the dark web and is completely configurable and very dangerous. Coinbase Updates Support For NY And lastly, Coinbase has announced that New York residents now have access to Stellar lumens and Chainlink’s LINK token. Lumens and LINK have already been available for many other states, but the high regulatory hurdles set in New York were likely behind the delays in adding support. This has been your daily roundup from This Week in Crypto for Thursday, September 26, 2019. Be sure to support the podcast by subscribing on your favorite podcast app including Google Home and Alexa devices. Also join us on Twitter to let us know your thoughts at twitter.com/weekincrypto. Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next time.

This is your daily roundup for Wednesday, September 25, 2019. Block.One opens a new office near Washington D.C., bitFlyer Europe and USA lists new altcoins, and Emsisoft has released a bug fix for the WannaCryFake bitcoin ransomware. ☕ Buy Me A Coffee: https://glow.fm/mota New Virginia Block One HQ Block.One, the company behind EOS, is opening a new headquarters the DC area. The new office, based in Arlington County, VA, will employ 170 people and will support the exiting Blacksburg office in research and development. Blacksburg is the home of CTO Dan Larimer and has served as the company’s HQ since inception. Block.One already has offices in Hong Kong and Los Angeles. The company has long been criticized for its handling of its treasury, including a June stock buyback and the conversion of its native tokens into bitcoin. bitFlyer USA Lists BCH, ETC, and LTC Japan-based exchange BitFlyer has announced the listing of additional cryptocurrencies on its European and American subsidiaries. bitFlyer Europe is adding buy and sell trades for bitcoin cash, ethereum classic, litecoin, lisk, and monacoin. bitFlyer USA is adding bitcoin cash, ethereum classic, and litecoin, but not lisk or monacoin. Co-head and COO of bitFlyer Europe Andy Bryant stated “By adding new altcoins, we are expanding bitFlyer’s Buy/Sell offer significantly, giving our customers instant access to some of the largest and most exciting altcoins in the world” bitFlyer was recently recognized as a ‘Real-10’ exchange in a Bitwise report to the U.S. SEC. Bug Fix For WannaCry Malware Software firm Emsisoft has released a bug fix for the WannaCryFake bitcoin ransomware, a variant of the infamous WannaCry ransomware that targeted Microsoft computers in 2017. WannaCryFake locks victims’ files using AES-256. The free software by Emsisoft will help recover encrypted files without leading to data loss. The Emsisoft Decryptor uses the encrypted file and the original unencrypted file to piece together the keys needed to decrypt locked data. Because the protocol uses filename extensions to determine the encryption parameters, users are instructed not to rename their files. 2nd Annual Barclays Hackathon  Barclays is holding its second annual DerivHack hackathon to tackle interoperability in the financial services industry. 50 teams of four from banks and financial service firms are expected to compete in the 48 hour hackathon on October 16th and 17th.  The aim of the hackathon is to explore ways that the Common Domain Model (CDM) by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), can be implemented using various programming languages and applied to a range of platforms, including blockchain and distributed ledger technology. The hackathon will help Barclays evaluate the CDM against their internal models. Barclays will look into applications using CDM natively, shared repositories of data in CDM format, and hybrid models. SoFi Opens Trading Online lender SoFi announced its crypto trading platform will go live next Tuesday. Digital assets available on the platform include Bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin.SoFi joins digital-first trading platforms eToro and Robinhood – to enter the crypto market. SoFi targets millennial investors through its student loan consolidation service.